Happy Birthday Josh

It's Sunday evening, I have a cute little cat curled beside me on the couch, the house is peaceful, and I have just finished one of my little sewing projects ... sounds like a pretty nice evening!!

This week we celebrated my son's 12th birthday.  Josh was actually 12 on the 3rd November but we chose to have a little party yesterday, very low key, just three friends for afternoon tea then Paul (husband) took them all to Megazone so they could have fun shooting each other.  Josh still loves Lego so his cake choice was easy, and not too hard to make ... a giant Lego cake ...

Happy birthday Josh!

The cake idea came from a Donna Hay kids magazine and is just slabs of cake with marshmallows on ...

Here is the cake in progress of being iced.

I must say my icing is pretty rough, I think I need to invest in a palette knife to get a better finish!  At least it tasted yummy and Josh was happy with it.

Barney enjoyed playing with (shredding) the wrapping paper.  He is a feisty puss!

I was thrilled to receive lovely mail on Friday ... I just had to make a cup of tea and flick through them straight away ...

Two new magazines in one day is all it takes to get me excited!  The latest Homespun magazine and Mollie Makes which Fiona Marie has made possible to buy in NZ.

And on the sewing front this week I am feeling pretty good.  I have finished my Great Global Christmas swap project, I am just waiting for some bells to add then I can post it all the way to America.  And I finished another little swap project and a gift.  Unfortunately I cannot post photos yet in case my swap partners read my blog.

My next project is a baby gift for a work colleague and I have found the perfect pattern, an owl softie from an old Homespun magazine so I hope to start this week.

So that was my week ... and now I can just imagine being comfy in bed reading Mollie Makes, so if you will excuse me ...

Happy stitching, Wendy

Sew Along progress

It has been another busy week but on Friday and Saturday I made time to finish my Tilda angel, she finally has clothes!

I have really enjoyed this sew along, it was very manageable just concentrating on one task each week and I love how the angel turned out.  I want to give a big thank you to Lisa for her tutorials and her encouragement along the way.

My second Sew Along is the Christmas banner and this week I stocked up on more thread and more quilter's muslin so was able to finish the Christmas tree stitchery from the previous week and I also completed the 6th stitchery ...

These are the two I finished this week.  I really like the angel, isn't she cute.  I have one more stitchery to do then next Saturday we get the finishing instructions.  That is never my favourite part as I definitely prefer the hand stitching.

I have also made progress with my swap sewing, having completed the stitchery and today I cut out the border fabrics so just a bit more sewing to go.  No photos though!

We had a late night last night for Guy Fawkes, it seems a rather strange tradition to commemorate the capture and killing of those behind the 'gunpowder plot' in 1605.  These days it's really just an excuse to enjoy a bonfire and fireworks which is exactly what we did ...

Almost as impressive as the Rugby World Cup opening ... yeah right!

Yesterday and today, it feels like an icy blast is here, not exactly spring weather.  In fact, I lighted the fire today when we came home from church.  All set for a relaxing afternoon after the late night.  I'm hoping it will start feeling like spring again this week.

Well, that was a long blog post!  I'm going to catch up on some blog visiting now.

Happy stitching, Wendy.

Flat out like a lizard drinking!!

Yes, it's been a busy week (my hubby thought you Aussie readers would appreciate my post title!), hence no blogging for me and not too much sewing either.

I did get a little stitching done ...

I nearly finished the fifth stitchery for the Christmas banner but I ran out of thread so I'm off to the quilt shop tomorrow.

My Tilda sew along task this week was to finish the doll's face and start cutting out her clothes so she now has a face and her clothes have been started.  I thought I'd wait until she was dressed before posting another photo of her.

The third stitching I have been working on is for the Great Global Christmas Swap, I have a little sneak peek for you ...

... a cute little Christmas bird.  I LOVE this pattern so I hope my swap partner will too.

On a different note, our favourite muffin recipe at the moment is Raspberry and Chocolate Muffins ...

I had fun trying to get a nice photo, isn't the Camellia beautiful?  If you want the recipe click on the new recipe tab at the top.

Well, I hope to spend tonight having a catch up on some of your lovely blogs.

Happy stitching, Wendy

FNSI results

I had such fun last night working on my smaller projects, perfect for FNSI.  First I completed this week's tasks for the Tilda sew along, my Tilda doll now has arms and legs and hair ...

It was the first time I had done hair in this way, thanks to Lisa's step by step tutorial I managed although I will never make a hairdresser!  The poor doll really needs some clothes now but she will have to wait until next week.

I also started stitching the fourth Christmas banner stitchery with Sew Happy Me and I managed to finish it this morning ...

Now to have a look at what other's did for FNSI, happy stitching, Wendy

Swaps, hexies and FNSI

I have been on tenterhooks since I received my scissor keep swap over a week ago because the parcel I sent my swap partner, Cheryl, had not arrived at her house!  I even went to the Post Office today to see if they could help and came home to an email from Cheryl that it had finally arrived!  I am so relieved and now I can show you what I made ... 

Needlecase and Scissor Keep - An Angels Story by Anni Downs
Strawberry Scissor Fob - free Internet pattern by Marie Greene

Of course some New Zealand chocolate found it's way into the parcel because every crafting occasion is made sweeter with chocolate!  Thanks to Sandy at Cookies and Cream Craft for organising this swap.

Well, the rugby has been exciting especially if you are an All Black supporter, which of course I am, and I managed to get sewing done as I watched.  I finished the fourth row of my Vignette hexagon quilt ...

So that's 80 hexie flowers with 60 more to make, or 4 rows done with 3 more to go! 

It's Friday Night Sew In tomorrow night (see button in my side bar) so I am looking forward to getting some more sewing done but perhaps a change from hexies ... Happy FNSI!  Wendy

A giveaway

Perri from Stitches from the Bush has a wonderful giveaway on her blog for the following lovely goodies ...

So if you would like a chance to win, pop on over to her blog and enter, I definitely will be!!

I have kept up with my sew-alongs this week, finishing the third Christmas banner stitchery with Sew Happy Me ...

And I have completed the second step of the Tilda sew-along with Lydia's Treasures.  This week the task was to turn the doll pieces and stuff them ...

I am enjoying participating in these sew-alongs, I would otherwise have felt the projects too big but broken down in week-by-week steps they have been manageable so far.  It is also fun looking forward to the next task to be posted.

It is spring here in New Zealand and we are having very changeable weather, in one day we have heavy rain, then an afternoon of sunshine and then strong winds!  The plants are enjoying the season even if we humans aren't as much!!

I love this viburnum when it flowers each spring, the flowers are white and lacy

Of course, the girls enjoy wandering around the garden with me ...

Henny Penny always hopes I will throw her some food!

I have sewn 80 hexie flowers now.  There are two Rugby World cup semi final games this weekend so I plan to start sewing the forth row together.  I can occupy myself with sewing if things get a bit tense watching the Australia vs All Blacks game!
Happy weekend and happy stitching, Wendy

A new treasure and hexies

I received the most beautiful gift yesterday from Cheryl in Australia (she doesn't have a blog).  Cheryl was my partner for The Keeper Swap and I absolutely love the sewing set she sent me.  She even sent me some lovely new scissors!!

I love the bird on the back of the scissor keep and the little sewing accessory has lots of useful pockets inside.  So this gift is my treasure today, my first swap and such a beautiful gift.  I'm linking today with Melody for Tuesday's Treasures.

I choose to work on hexagon flowers during the rugby in the weekend.  It was nice to dust them off and see how much I could get done!

I was up to three rows completed and sewn together and over the last few days I have been glue-basting and sewing furiously, so now I have 77 hexie flowers, three more to go and I can start sewing the fourth row together.  Unfortunately I have almost run out of glue so I ordered more today, I hope it arrives quickly!!

Happy stitching, Wendy